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Appeared on: Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Teac DV-W58G-A

1. Package - Installation

TEAC
DV-W58G-A - Page 1

After the DV-W58G,
TEAC decided to rise up the recording speed for the -R format due to the
large competition, released its DV-W58G-A drive, supporting
8x for both +R and -R format and 4x for the RW. The drive is also a fast
CD-R
writer
with the maximum writing speed of 40x. The full specifications for the DV-W58G-A
drive are presented in the following table.

The performance of DV-W58G-A is good in all test although the drive is not
the best available on the market.

3. CD Error Correction Tests

TEAC
DV-W58G-A -
Page 3

Error Correction Tests

In the following tests we check the drive's behavior when reading
scratched / defective audio discs. The test discs are the ABEX series
from ALMEDIO.

- ABEX TCD-721R

Errors total

Num:
1015916

Errors (Loudness) dB(A)

Num:
51560

Avg:
-73.6 dB(A)

Max:-36.0
dB(A)

Error Muting Samples

Num:
2986

Avg:
1.0 Samples

Max:
11 Samples

Skips Samples

Num:
3273

Avg:
0 Samples

Max:
0 Samples

Total Test Result

76.7
points (out of 100.0 maximum)

TEAC DV-W58G-A had a good performance with the Abex 721R test disc. The maximum
error loudness at -36.0 dB(A) is low, which means that there is no case of
experiencing audible errors.

- ABEX TCD-726

Errors total

Num:
0

Errors (Loudness) dB(A)

Num:
0

Avg:-174.0
dB(A)

Max:
-174.0 dB(A)

Error Muting Samples

Num:
0

Avg: 0
Samples

Max:
0 Samples

Skips Samples

Num:
0

Avg:
0 Samples

Max:
0 Samples

Total Test Result

100.0
points (out of 100.0 maximum)

The 726 Abex test disc is easier for most drives to read. Teac drive just
ignored the defected area on the disc.

- CD-Check Audio Test Disc

The CD-Check Test Disc is a very useful tool for evaluating the Sound Reproduction
/ Error correction capabilities of a CD player. The disc offers a signal combination
with disc error patterns to rate the drive's reading music abilities
and reproduce it completely. Five tracks on the disc contain a progressively
difficult sequence. These tracks are referred to as Check Level-1 through
Check Level-5.

The
tracks are reproduced (played) through a software multimedia player (i.e.
Windows Media Player). Each level is considered as passed, if the tone coming
out
from the speakers is smooth, continuous without interruptions, skipping or
looping. The higher the Check Level passed, the more reliable the sound reproduction
of the drive.

Error Level

1

2

3

4

5

TEAC DV-W58G-A

5/5

5/5

5/5

0/5

0/5

The TEAC drive played only the first three levels
of the CD-Check Audio test disc without noticeable clicks. The fourth
and fifth levels produced continuous audible clicks. The performance is acceptable
but
we expected to be
better.

- Summary

Test Disc

Reading Speed

Score

ABEX TCD-721R

Max

76.7

ABEX TCD-726

100.0

Average Score

88.35

The average score for the TEAC DV-W58G with the Abex test discs is 88.35
points. The performance is very good, but we cannot say the same
for the CD-Check Audio Test Disc.

4. DVD reading tests

TEAC
DV-W58G-
Page 4

DVD reading tests

- Dual Layer OTP DVD-ROM

The
first layer of an OTP dual layer DVD-ROM is read exactly the same way as the
first layer of the PTP disc we tested previously. The difference here is the
reading strategy of the second layer on the disc. The beginning of the second
layer is located in the outer part of the disc, so the drive starts reading
from the outer tracks inwards towards the inner tracks of the disc.

- DVD Ripping Tests

We measured the DVD-Video ripping speed for the TEAC DV-W58G-A using the
latest version of DVD Decrypter. The DVD Video title is the "Matrix" pressed
DVD-Video.

The graph above shows that the TEAC drive is very fast in this procedure.
The average speed of 6.8x is very good.

- DVD Recordable / Rewritable reading Tests

The chart below shows the Nero CDSpeed average reading speed results with
the following media:

In the previous tests Teac performed exceptionally with high speed, the fastest
seek times and high ripping speed.

5. DVD Error Correction Tests

TEAC
DV-W58G-A-
Page 5

DVD Error Correction
Tests

In the following
tests we examined the DVD reading capabilities of the TEAC drive
with scratched / defective DVD media. For the tests we used CDVD
Benchmark and Nero CDSpeed. The reference test media
come
from
ALMEDIO.

- Single Layer media

ABEX TDR-821

This is a single sided, single layer DVD-ROM with a 4.7GB capacity, and its
surface has an artificial scratch of dimensions varying from 0.4 to 3.0 mm.
The following transfer rate picture comes from the CDVD Benchmark v1.21 transfer
rate test.

ABEX TDR-825

This is also a single sided, single layer DVD-ROM with 4.7GB capacity. The
data structure of the disc is exactly the same as that of the TDR-821, with
the difference that there are no scratches on the surface but instead
defective areas ranging in dimensions from 0.5 to 1.1 mm. There
are also artificial fingerprints with height
between
65 and
75 micrometers.

- Dual Layer media

ABEX TDR-841

This is an 8.5GB dual layer, single sided DVD-ROM disc with artificial scratches
of dimensions ranging from 0.4 to 3.0mm, on both layers.

ABEX TDR-845

This disc is a single sided, dual layer DVD-ROM disc with capacity of 8.5GB.
The only difference between the TDR-845 and the TDR-841 is that the first includes
both defective areas and fingerprints. The dimensions of the defective areas
range from 0.5 to 1.1 mm and the fingerprints have height sized from 65
to 75 microns (micrometers).

In the four previous tests Teac revealed that it has very good
DVD error correction ability. All the defected discs were read without malfunctions
and readable errors.

ABEX TDV-541

The
TDV-541 is a single sided, dual layer DVD-VIDEO disc, with a capacity of 8.5GB.The
disc is based on the TDV-540 series which is designed for inspection
and adjustment of DVD-VIDEO players. The disc checks the layer switch operation
from layer 0 to layer 1 and also includes test pictures and test signals for
DVD sound files. The current TDV-541 also checks the error correcting
capabilities of the drive and includes scratches sized from 0.4 to 3.0 mm.

The specified disc was read successfully despite the fact that there was
a slight glitch just after the switch over to the second layer, but the drive
recovered
quickly.

ABEX TDV-545

The
TDV-545 disc is based on the TDV-540 series. It is a single sided, dual layer
Video/S-2 disc with a capacity of 8.5GB. The TDV-545 includes artificial
black dots on the disc's surface, sized from 0.4 to 1.0 mm. It also has 65
- 75 micrometers high fingerprints.

This is also good behavior for a drive of its kind.

6. Protected Disc Tests

TEAC
DV-W58G-A -
Page 6

Protected Disc
Tests

- Reading Tests

To create an image of the various protected titles onto a hard disk, we
used Alcohol 120% v1.4.8.1222 and the appropriate settings, depending on the
protection
type of the inserted discs. Below the capabilities of the TEAC
drive are summarized, according to CloneCD software. The summary below shows
that the drive supports CD+G writing under RAW DAO:

The game titles we used to test the reading speed for each protection scheme
are presented in the
table below:

Game Title

Protection Scheme

PSX "NBA Jam Extreme"

Lybcrypt

Serious Sam The Second Encounter v1.07

SafeDisc v.2.60.052

VRally II

SecuROM v.2

PSX Pressed Media

SafeDisc v.2

SecuROM v.2

TEAC had a high ripping speed in all the previous tests. It was the fastest
with SafeDisc and SecuRom protections while it was good with PSX media.

- Writing Tests

TEAC supports DAO-RAW writing mode.
For checking the drive's EFM correction status, we used 3 different game titles
with different SafeDisc versions and with the latest software patches installed.
After making the image files of the various titles to the hard disk, we burned
them (maximum speed) with Alcohol 120%. Two different discs were created for
each
title; one with the "Bypass EFM error" enabled and one more with
the
function disabled.

The table below shows the results of the attempted backups and whether
they work (game installed / played normally), or not.

Drive

Game Title

SD2 Build

Settings

Bypass EFM error On

Bypass EFM error Off

TEAC DV-W58G

Max Payne

v2.51.020

Yes

Yes

Serious Sam - The Second Encounter
v1.07

v.2.60.052

Yes

Yes

The Sims Unleashed

v.2.8

Yes

Yes

The Sims Superstar

v2.9

Yes

Yes

Fifa 2004

v3.10

Yes

No

Teac managed to make working backups of all the SafeDisc games we tried,
even the latest. The fact that the backup was not playable
without the contribution of the software, EFM off, didn't affect the good image
of the drive.

7. DAE Tests

TEAC
DV-W58G-A-
Page 7

DAE Tests

- Pressed and CDR AudioCD results

According to the manufacturer, the TEAC DV-W58G-A drive supports 40x CAV
for DAE.

The
specifications of the drive were confirmed by CDSpeed.

We ripped the contents of the same audio disc to our hard disk, using the
CDDAE software. The average ripping speed (burst mode) of 28.5x, was the fastest
among the two other drives.

With the CDR audio disc, the performance was almost the same
as with the original, quite faster that the other two drives.

- Advanced DAE Quality

The average reading speed of the TEAC drive according to Nero's
CD Speed Advanced DAE test, is 28.26x. The quality score of the drive is 100,
while no data or sync errors were reported during the test. Also according
to the software the drive can safely be used for on the
fly copying at up to 16x reading
speeds , with an exception at 6x. In addition the drive supports Leadin / Leadout
reading and Subchannel Data information.

8. CD Recording Tests

TEAC
DV-W58G-A-Page
8

CD Recording Tests

- CD-R Writing Tests

The
TEAC DV-W58G-A supports a maximum CD-R writing speed of 40x.
To confirm this we used
a blank 80min
CD-R disc from TY and NeroCDSpeed to emulate the writing process.

After
the end of the test, CDSpeed reported an average speed of 31.45x. The ending
speed at 41.56x confirmed the drives specifications.

- Recording Times

We created an 80min data compilation with Nero Burning Rom and recorded it
on a 700MB disc. The difference between the drives was expected, due to the
different maximum supported speed of each.

Bellow two graphs are presented, where you can compare the writing times
with different media brands, while in the second one you can compare the times
in all the supported speeds for
Teac Drive.

- CD-RW Writing Tests

TEAC
DV-W58G-A supports 24x(Z-CLV) for US-RW media. To test the writing speed
and method used
for the TEAC with the -RW format, we used CDSpeed writing simulation test with
a blank 24x US-RW media from Mitsubishi Chemicals.

Once
again our test confirmed the drive's specifications.

Below we provide a comparison of the three drives where we used Nero Burning
Rom software to burn a 651MB data compilation onto 24x US-RW media from Mitsubishi
Chemicals.

The difference between Teac and Pioneer is logical due to the different
supported speed for this type of recording.

- Packet Writing Tests

For the packet writing test we used the InCD packet writing software from
Nero and a Mitsubishi Chemicals 24x US-RW media. The tested file is a 403 MB
file (412.822 KB) and we used the drag and drop method with Windows Explorer
to write the file from our hard disk onto RW media.

Operation

Duration

Average speed

Read

2:31 min

18.2 X

Write

2:50 min

16.2 X

- Other features

Overburning

Up to 94 min

CD text reading/writing

Yes

9. 3T Jitter Tests - Page 1

TEAC
DV-W58G-A-
Page 9

Writing Quality Tests - 3T Jitter Tests

As we mention before, TEAC DV-W58G-A supports 40x maximum writing speed.
We burned five Taiyo Yuden media, in order to test the writing quality
at all the available writing speeds.

- 3T Pit results

As we can see from the graph above, the higher the speed the better the quality.
Recording at 8x and 16x is not very good. This is also confirmed in the following
graph, with the average Pit jitter values.

- 3T Land results

From the Land jitter values we experienced, all speeds are in acceptable levels.

Recording Speed

Average 3T Pit Jitter (ns)

Average 3T Land Jitter (ns)

> 35ns

Max 3T jitter values (ns)

8X

41.68

35.85

Yes

44 Pit, 37 Land

16X

40.12

32.63

Yes

45 Pit, 34 Land

24X

34.90

31.41

Yes

41 Pit, 34 Land

32X

35.00

35.00

Yes

40 Pit, 40 Land

40X

34.88

34.56

Yes

40 Pit, 42 Land

Teac had an average performance in this tests. We estimate that the jitter
levels should be lower, especially for the maximum values.

10. 3T Jitter Tests - Page 2

TEAC
DV-W58G-A-
Page 9

Writing Quality Tests - 3T Jitter Tests

Here we examine the writing quality of the drive at the maximum allowed speed,
40x, using this time media from different brands.

- 3T Pit results

All media reported good writing quality, but we still expected a better one.
Intenso media had an extremely high level at the end of the recording area.

The above graph shows the average Pit values for each recorded
disc.

- 3T Land results

Mam and Intenso didn't prove to be the best combination with this drive.
All the other media had acceptable jitter levels.

Media Brand

Average 3T Pit Jitter (ns)

Average 3T Land Jitter (ns)

> 35ns

Max 3T jitter values (ns)

PHILIPS 52X

35.12

37.93

Yes

40 Pit, 40 Land

PLATINUM 52X

34.37

37.46

Yes

39 Pit, 40 Land

INTENSO 52X

37.66

44.24

Yes

54 Pit, 54 Land

SAMSUNG 52X

36.90

38.80

No

39 Pit, 41 Land

CMC Magnetics 48X

32.37

33.66

Yes

40 Pit, 38 Land

MAM 52X

33.76

39.20

Yes

39 Pit, 45 Land

Once again the maximum values for each disc were high. We expect
a new firmware upgrade to improve the recording quality.

11. C1 / C2 Error Measurements

TEAC
DV-W58G-A-
Page 11

Writing Quality Tests - C1 / C2 Error Measurements

The C1 / C2 error rate was measured for the recorded discs, burned during
the previous writing tests (jitter). The software used was UMDoctor Pro II
and the reader is the Optorite DD0401 drive.

Taiyo Yuden 48x recorded at 8x

Taiyo Yuden 48x recorded at 16x

Taiyo Yuden 48x recorded at 24x

Taiyo Yuden 48x recorded at 32x

Taiyo Yuden 48x recorded at 40x

CMC 48x recorded at 40x

Intenso 48x recorded at 40x

MAM SG Ultra 48x recorded at 24

Samsung 48x recorded at 40x

Philips 52x recorded at 40x

Platinum 52x recorded at 40x

Below
is presented information on the CD-R media used in this test.

Disc

ID Code

Capacity

Taiyo Yuden 48X

TaiyoYuden 97m24s01f

79:59.70

CMC Magnetics 48X

CMC Magnetics 97m26s66f

79:59.71

Intenso 52x

97m17s06f

79:59.74

Mam 52x

Mitsui 97m27s58f

79:59.74

Samsung 40x

CMC Magnetics 97m26s66f

79:59.71

Philips 52x

Ritek 97m15s17f

79:59.70

Platinum 52x

Ritek 97m15s17f

79:59.70

According to UMDoctor no C2 errors were reported while the C1
levels were good, with an exception with the intenso media.

- Writing Performance

8x DVD-R

8x DVD+R

4x DVD+RW

4x DVD-RW

- Burning Tests

The following graphs show the maximum writing speed for all available DVD
formats . For comparison, we also include the writing times of Nec ND-2500A
and Pioneer DVR-107D drives.

As we can see the Pioneer recorder was the fastest for -R and +R media,
while for RW was Nec. Although Teac had good times, took the third position
in this typical competition.

The following screenshot was taken from Nero, after successful
burnings. The
recording project is the same DVD-Video compilation for all tests.

CMC Magnetics 8x DVD+R

CMC Magnetics 8x DVD-R

Maxell 4x DVD+RW

Mitsubishi Chemicals 4x DVD-RW

Media

Code

Speed

Verbatim 8x DVD-R

MCC 02RG20

8x

Mitsubishi Kagaku 8x DVD-R

MCC 02RG20

8x

CMC Magnetics 8x DVD-R

CMC MAG. AE1

8x

Taiyo Yuden 4x DVD-R

TYG01

4x

Maxell 4x DVD-R

TYG01

4x

Ritek 4x DVD-R

RITEK G04

4x

Mitsubishi Chemicals 4x DVD-R

MCC 01RG20

4x

Mam 4x DVD-R

Mitsui MCI4XG01

4x

Philips 8x DVD+R

PHILIPS C08

8x

CMC Magnetics 8x DVD+R

CMC MAG E01

8x

Mitsubishi Kagaku 8x DVD+R

MCC 003

8x

Mitsubishi Chemicals 4x DVD+R

MCC 002

4x

Maxell 4x DVD+R

YUDEN000 T01

4x

Mitsubishi Chemicals 4x DVD-RW

MCC 01RW4X

4x

TDK 2x DVD-RW

TDK502SakuM3

2x

Mitsubishi Chemicals 4x DVD+RW

MKM A02

4x

Maxell 4x DVD+RW

PHILIPS 041

4x

JVC 4x DVD-RW

LVC0VictorD7

1x

The table above presents writing speeds of the drive, for various
media brands and formats.

- Packet Writing Tests

For this test we copied a 403 MB file (412.822 KB) from Hard Disk (on the
same PC as the recorder) in to formatted RW media, through Windows explorer
(drag and drop).

DVD-RW

Duration

Average speed

Read

2:23 min

2.1x

Write

1:18 min

3.9x

DVD+RW

Duration

Average speed

Read

2:33 min

2.0x

Write

1:24 min

3.6x

13. KProbe PI/PO quality tests

TEAC DV-W58G-A - Page 12

KProbe PI/PO
quality results

The following screenshots show the PI/PO scans for various DVD-/+R
and DVD-/+RW media, recorded with TEAC DV-W58G-A at the maximum permitted
speed.

The software used for the measurements was KProbe v1.1.26, the ECC was
set to 8 and the reader was LiteOn LDW-811s. The specific methodology is very
dependent on the
drive
used as a reader, while the reliability of the PI/PO provided output is also
not technically confirmed. Hence, we cannot safely come up
with conclusive results,
although we do make a comparison
of the drive behavior
when using
various
DVD recordable/rewritable
media.

The recordable discs we use, came from Verbatim, Taiyo Yuden, CMC, MAM,
Maxell , MC and Ritek. Further details about each disc type are presented at
the
bottom
of this page.

Verbatim 8x DVD-R

We also try to read the disc using Power DVD but we failed.

Mitsubishi Kagaku 8x DVD-R

CMC Magnetics 8x DVD-R

Taiyo Yuden 4x DVD-R

Maxell 4x DVD-R

Ritek 4x DVD-R

Mitsubishi Chemicals 4x DVD-R

Mam 4x DVD-R

This media was unable to be read from both of our LiteOn drives in order to
measure its quality. We try the same with an Optorite drive but still the same.
Only in the same drive, Teac DV-W58G-A, we managed to read it.

Philips 8x DVD+R

CMC Magnetics 8x DVD+R

Mitsubishi Kagaku 8x DVD+R

Mitsubishi Chemicals 4x DVD+R

Maxell 4x DVD+R

Mitsubishi Chemicals 4x DVD-RW

TDK 2x DVD-RW

Mitsubishi Chemicals 4x DVD+RW

Maxell 4x DVD+RW

Media

Code

Verbatim 8x DVD-R

MCC 02RG20

Mitsubishi Kagaku 8x DVD-R

MCC 02RG20

CMC Magnetics 8x DVD-R

CMC MAG. AE1

Taiyo Yuden 4x DVD-R

TYG01

Maxell 4x DVD-R

TYG01

Ritek 4x DVD-R

RITEK G04

Mitsubishi Chemicals 4x DVD-R

MCC 01RG20

Mam 4x DVD-R

Mitsui MCI4XG01

Philips 8x DVD+R

PHILIPS C08

CMC Magnetics 8x DVD+R

CMC MAG E01

Mitsubishi Kagaku 8x DVD+R

MCC 003

Mitsubishi Chemicals 4x DVD+R

MCC 002

Maxell 4x DVD+R

YUDEN000 T01

Mitsubishi Chemicals 4x DVD-RW

MCC 01RW4X

TDK 2x DVD-RW

TDK502SakuM3

Mitsubishi Chemicals 4x DVD+RW

MKM A02

Maxell 4x DVD+RW

PHILIPS 041

The DVD writing quality of the drive is good in three cases. However there
are many others that the PI/PO levels are extremely high.

14. Conclusion

Teac
DV-W58G-A -
Page 13

Conclusion

Pros

Cons

8x DVD±R
writing

4x DVD±RW
writing

40/24/40 CD-RW

DAE speed

Good CD/DVD
Error correction

CD-R Overburning
up to 94min

Fast DVD ripping

Working
backups with SafeDisc v3.10 protection

Support
of 90/99min discs

Support
protected AudioCDs

Increased
PI/PO values with many DVD media

Low CD
Writing quality with specific media

The drive had a good performance in the CD reading tests, with high speed
and good seek times. However we would like the full seek time mode to be
lower. For the same format the error correction is rather good. The performance
with the Abex test disc was very good. However the CD-Check Audio Test Disc
seemed to be a little difficult for the Teac drive where only the three first
tracks
were played without problems.

In the DVD tests the Teac drive had, once again, good reading speed and very
good seek times for all modes. The DVD ripping speed was the higher and the
DVD error correction, with both single and dual layer test discs, was also
very good.

The DV-W58G-A drive managed to make working backups of all the protected games
we tried, while the ripping speed was high for all the protections we tested.

In the audio part the drive had a high DAE speed, while supports Leadin and
Leadout, CD text and Subchannel data. The drive also supports
90min and 99min discs. Here we must also refer the ability of the Teac drive
regarding the protected AudioCDs. Both of our test pressed media
were playbacked and ripped successfully.

The maximum allowed CD writing speed is 40x, which is high. In the writing
quality part there were no C2 errors reported and the C1 levels were low in
all cases, except with Mam and Intenso media.
From the jitter measurements we estimate that the maximum values were increased
while the average levels were acceptable. Also we would avoid writing at 8x
and 16x. Maybe a firmware upgrade will improve this.

For the DVD writing part, the drive managed to burn both formats at 8x,
-R and +R, and at 4x the RW formats. As far as it concerns the writing quality
there were some cases that it was very good, but at most the PI/PO levels were
extremely increased. Here too a firmware upgrade would be highly anticipated.